I, like so many other residents, received a letter in the mail supporting the relocation from a group only listed as ‘Move the Saleyards, Tell the Ballarat Council to Act Now’. 

The letter was clearly made to look like a grass roots campaign.

After years of delays for the project it appeared a group of residents and businesses had finally decided to put themselves up for a debate on the issue.

There were no names mentioned as being behind the group. You would have hoped anyone with a vested interest would have been willing to make that clear. 

But nothing could be further from the truth. 

For some ridiculously poorly thought out reason, the developer, RLX, who after a long history of not speaking publicly on the issue then spends what can only be assumed is a great deal of money  hiring a lobby group to develop a phantom group to push a message it should be pushing itself. 

Only after questions from The Courier was it revealed the developer was behind the campaign. 

But this lobby group makes the fundamental big-city mistake of underestimating Ballarat people. The first thing residents ask when they see a flier is: “Who is behind this?”

The letter and the campaign mislead the public by not making that vested interest clear. We all know this debate of the relocation has gone on far too long.

 The developer has been quiet throughout the entire process and in some senses the debate has been railroaded by a small but vocal group of Miners Rest residents. 

However, this issue is separate to the mailing of the letters. 

I am far from being a supporter of keeping the saleyards in its current location. I like so many others do not want the facility to be taken out of the local government area. 

I would be very happy to see a new facility built in Miners Rest, but keep in mind I don’t live there. 

The report completed by an independent planning panel alleviated many of the fears that residents may have had and probably made the vast majority of Ballarat residents breathe a sigh of relief that the problems were not as bad as it first seemed. 

However, this decision by the developer to send out a new letter should anger more than just the residents of Miners Rest. It is misleading to provide information and not be willing put your own name to it. 

The No Saleyards for Miners Rest Action Group would not start another separate group and not reveal they are in fact Miners Rest residents

Because they realise that would be unfair in not revealing their own interest in the proposal. 

The saleyards proposal will come before council and will represent a tough decision for councillors. 

One would hope that the developers will be able to put forth its own argument themselves and not under some guise of another group because this project is very important to Ballarat and will have a massive impact on our economy. 

The developer should be willing to put forward its argument themselves if it is in fact strong enough. 

It is stunningly confusing why the company would chose to go down a different path. 

RXL needs to own its comments, it is the right and fair thing to do and if I was that developer, I would be asking for my money back from any communications professional who advised me otherwise.